The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide financial support to country's 12 private banks so that they could offer more trade finance support to importers and exporters for giving additional impetus to the economy.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has expanded the support under its Trade Finance Facilitation Programme (TFFP) in Bangladesh.

The objective of the Programme is to link banks and firms into global trading and banking networks for building relationships and spurs knowledge sharing.

Twelve separate agreements were signed today between ADB and 12 private banks in this regard. The banks are; Bank Asia, BASIC Bank, Dhaka Bank, Dutch Bangla Bank, Eastern Bank, Export Import Bank of Bangladesh, National Bank, Premier Bank, Prime Bank, Southeast Bank, Standard Bank and United Commercial Bank.

ADB Country Director Paul Heytens, Director General of Private Sector Operations Department Philip Erquiaga and heads of the 12 banks were present on the signing ceremony.

Heytens said some firms in Bangladesh, just as in other developing economies, particularly smaller companies, find it difficult to get hold of the trade finance they need to buy key components and final goods from overseas or to ensure timely payment for products they are selling abroad.

The TFFP was set up in 2004 and was expanded to a US $ 1 billion programme in March this year after ADB perceived a growing and urgent need to help address the lack of finance that was holding back trade, particularly in developing economies.

In the first 10 months of this year, the programme supported over 1.3 billion US dollar in trade, a 125 percent increase over the 578 million US dollar that it supported in 2008.

ADB sources said, ADB has expanded its trade finance programme into a number of countries for the first time this year, while the number of participating banks elsewhere has also increased. In recent months ADB has signed TFFP agreements with banks in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Indonesia.

The ADB also expects to continue to expand the geographical scope of the programme to Central Asia and elsewhere in 2010.